IU swims to sixth at Big Ten Championships

Of the 21 events that were included in the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, the Hoosiers participated in only 11 final heats. When the three-day meet in Minneapolis, Minn., was finished, IU placed sixth, scoring a total of 284 points.\nDuring the second day of the meet, the Hoosiers placed in three events. IU's 200-yard medley relay team, composed of senior Will Bernhardt, sophomore David Schulze, senior Jason Carlberg and freshman Claes Andersson, managed to finish in eighth place with a time of 1:30.36, scoring 18 points. Bernhardt finished in seventh place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.48 seconds, scoring 12 points for the Hoosiers. \n"The 100 back was our highlight event with Will Bernhardt finishing seventh and Matt Leach, a freshman, finishing 12th," coach Kris Kirchner said.\nSenior Tom Davidson went into the meet with high hopes for himself. After finishing first in the 1-meter dive Friday and placing second in the 3-meter dive Saturday, Davidson said he is satisfied. He scored 544.1 points in the 3-meter dive, just 40 behind Minnesota's Dan Croaston.\n"It was a very enjoyable win. I think going into the tower tomorrow will be difficult because the returning champion will also be competing," Croaston said.\nGoing into the third day, the Hoosiers were in sixth place with a total of 207 points. Minnesota held strong in first with 549 points, Penn State was tied with Michigan for second with 378 points.\n"We were definitely not expecting to have such a strong lead," Minnesota coach Dennis Dale said. "We were expecting this to be a very tight competition. Our team is on fire right now," \nWith room to move, the Hoosiers went into the final day of the championships qualifying in four events. The first of the events was the mile. Senior Joseph Trent went on to finish eighth with a time of 15:25.7.\nIn the next event, the 200-meter backstroke, Bernhardt finished fifth in 1:45.59. Senior Donald Gold finished third in the 100-meter freestyle, helping the Hoosiers move into fifth place overall.\n"Don Gold swam a great race in a very fast heat," Kirchner said. \nFreshman Marc Carlton was the only Hoosier that qualified for the platform-diving finals. Carlton was able to score 390.2 points in the finals and finish sixth. The Hoosiers finished eighth in the last event of the meet, the 400-meter freestyle relay. Gold, Andersson, Carlberg and Schulze finished in 2:58.93, four seconds behind Penn State, who won the race\nMinnesota out-distanced Michigan, the second-place team by 230 points. Penn State rounded out the top three with 538 points.\nMinnesota's Dale was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Gophers' head diving coach, K.Z. Li was Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year. The Gopher's Todd Smolinski was named Swimmer of the Championship, and teammate Croaston was named Diver of the Championship. Michigan's Chris Thompson, an Olympic Gold medalist, was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year.